Overton School Board Explores Insurance For Part-Time Employees

The Overton County School Board discussed opening up insurance for its part-time employees during a work session on Tuesday night.

Board Member Ricky Dodson brought up four bus drivers being short of the 25-hour mark required to qualify for insurance through the school system. The board seemed to be in agreement they could find those drivers an hour of extra work to do each day to qualify.

“That’s huge to have that health insurance,” Dodson said. “A bus driver’s working a little over two weeks just to pay his health insurance and that’s pretty tough. That’s why you got bus drivers going to other systems looking because they furnish insurance at other places.”

Board member Mitch Stonecipher said if you offer that to those part-time bus drivers, you have to extend the same offer to the school system’s other part-time workers like cafeteria employees and custodians. The board decided they would explore how much that could cost and return to the discussion at the next meeting.

“I just said how will it impact us if everybody, if we offer it to one we have to offer it to everybody.” Stonecipher said. “Then, can we find work for those people, because then we are not only going to have to pay for the insurance but pay for the extra hours they’re working too.”

Dodson pushed to get a vote on the issue at the next meeting.

“We’re short drivers now,” Dodson said. “If somebody was to leave and go somewhere we’re doubling four routes now. Jason is that correct? Doubling four routes and how many special ed routes? That affects our chronic absenteeism. It affects everything when you can’t get them to and from school.”

Bus Coordinator Jason Cantrell attended the meeting to support insurance for bus drivers. The majority of the board decided they did not have enough information on how it would financially impact the schools to vote on the issue next month.

“If we can get that financial impact and see how that kind of looks and then we can deal with this whenever everybody has a little more information,” Board member Michael Hayes said. “Everybody good with that?”

Director of Schools Donnie Holman said he would have a financial impact report on insuring part-time school employees to the board at the next meeting.